Disney makes James Bond homeless
09-Sep-2019 • Bond News
Pinewood Studios have announced that a deal has been struck with Disney that sees the mouse house lease the famous film-making facilities for the next 10 years.
"The arrangement will see Disney take all the stages, backlots and other production accommodation at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire," the company said in a statement.
Paul Golding, Chairman of Pinewood Group Limited, said: “It’s wonderful to have Disney here at Pinewood. They’ve been making great films with us for many years and the fact they want to shoot so many more here is testimony not only to the quality of the teams and infrastructure at Pinewood, but also to the British film industry as a whole.”
Most James Bond productions have been based at Pinewood since 1962. In recent years, EON had to convert an old Rolls-Royce factory at Leavesden Aerodrome to accommodate 'GoldenEye' as Pinewood was fully booked. For 'Tomorrow Never Dies', EON unable to use the new Leavesden Film Studios they had created, as George Lucas was using it for Star Wars: Episode I, so instead they constructed sound stages in another derelict industrial site nearby.
Whenever production starts on Bond 26, it will likely not be at the familiar comfort of Pinewood Studios. It will be a further complication to the next film on top of (probably) casting a new leading actor.
This is, of course, all academic if Disney were to acquire the James Bond rights.
UPDATE: A BBC report, which does not state where the information came from, added: "Despite the Disney deal, it is believed that there is a possibility that, given its history, future James Bond films will still be filmed there."
